BiblioVault - Books about Manifolds (Mathematics)

Geometry of Nonpositively Curved Manifolds

Patrick B. Eberlein

University of Chicago Press, 1997

Starting from the foundations, the author presents an almost entirely
self-contained treatment of differentiable spaces of nonpositive
curvature, focusing on the symmetric spaces in which every geodesic lies
in a flat Euclidean space of dimension at least two. The book builds to
a discussion of the Mostow Rigidity Theorem and its generalizations, and
concludes by exploring the relationship in nonpositively curved spaces
between geometric and algebraic properties of the fundamental group.

This introduction to the geometry of symmetric spaces of non-compact
type will serve as an excellent guide for graduate students new to the
material, and will also be a useful reference text for mathematicians
already familiar with the subject.

[more]

Geometry, Rigidity, and Group Actions

Edited by Benson Farb and David Fisher

University of Chicago Press, 2011

The study of group actions is more than a hundred years old but remains to this day a vibrant and widely studied topic in a variety of mathematic fields. A central development in the last fifty years is the phenomenon of rigidity, whereby one can classify actions of certain groups, such as lattices in semi-simple Lie groups. This provides a way to classify all possible symmetries of important spaces and all spaces admitting given symmetries. Paradigmatic results can be found in the seminal work of George Mostow, Gergory Margulis, and Robert J. Zimmer, among others.

The papers in Geometry, Rigidity, and Group Actions explore the role of group actions and rigidity in several areas of mathematics, including ergodic theory, dynamics, geometry, topology, and the algebraic properties of representation varieties. In some cases, the dynamics of the possible group actions are the principal focus of inquiry. In other cases, the dynamics of group actions are a tool for proving theorems about algebra, geometry, or topology. This volume contains surveys of some of the main directions in the field, as well as research articles on topics of current interest.

[more]

Groups of Circle Diffeomorphisms

Andrés Navas

University of Chicago Press, 2011

In recent years scholars from a variety of branches of mathematics have made several significant developments in the theory of group actions. Groups of Circle Diffeomorphisms systematically explores group actions on the simplest closed manifold, the circle. As the group of circle diffeomorphisms is an important subject in modern mathematics, this book will be of interest to those doing research in group theory, dynamical systems, low dimensional geometry and topology, and foliation theory. The book is mostly self-contained and also includes numerous complementary exercises, making it an excellent textbook for undergraduate and graduate students.

[more]